


Birthdays Come Just Once A Year, Noctis, Dear

by Fungule



Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Afterlife, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Birthday, Birthday Presents, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Sad and Happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-03 20:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20459168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fungule/pseuds/Fungule
Summary: The bros still remember Noctis' birthday ten years after his death.





	Birthdays Come Just Once A Year, Noctis, Dear

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NOCT!!!

**Gladio**

His alarm was set for 5AM, an hour earlier than most days. One could wonder why the burly man would purposely give himself one less hour of sleep, but to him the answer was obvious. Once a year, every year, Gladiolus Amicitia would watch the sunrise. Sure, it filled his heart with pain, but it was a bittersweet pain. The same pain that filled him when he got his first scar protecting the young prince. And the same pain that crushed him when said price ascended the throne to the heavens, curing the world of eternal darkness. It was a pain filled with pride, and there was nothing in the world that made him more proud than his king.

As the alarm went off, the form next to the man shifted. "Sorry," he quietly apologized before leaving their room to sit on their balcony. In a way, he was lucky. Most royal shields never had the opportunity to have a family for reasons outside of carrying the family bloodline. Then again, most shields never had to go through the pain of losing their charge. So may be lucky wasn't the word for Gladiolus. Perhaps, if anything, he was unlucky. 

With a quiet huff, Gladio chased away the thought of being unlucky and instead turned his focus to the horizon before him. A sliver of the sun peeked out from behind a mountain and Gladiolus got ready for another year without his friend. This year would be the tenth, and boy, did Gladio know. Every year, for some odd reason, a piece of him would believe that maybe, just maybe, his friend would come back to the world of the living. Sure, it was an impossible feat, but was anything really impossible? And if anyone could do the impossible, it would've been Noct. He had done the impossible more times than Gladio could note. But as the years slowly went by, it became more clear that Noctis would never be coming back. This year marked the first year that Gladio didn't even hope for it. Instead he just accepted, with a small smile, that his dearest friend was in a better place. 

The crack of dawn finally broke, and Gladiolus let out a proud smile and a hearty laugh. "Thanks for the light, highness." And with that, he went back to bed.

**Ignis**

If anyone put too much effort into their friends, it was Ignis Stupeo Scientia. And while most people would argue that it was a wonderful thing for Ignis to care so much for his friends, they'd have to second guess themselves when it came to the situation of Noctis Lucis Caelum. Many knew the man's devotion to his prince was unbreakable. That was to be expected from the royal advisor, after all. However, Ignis' loyalty to the king ran much deeper than average, to the extent that Ignis refused to move on. The man would never find love, nor start a family. While this was common practice for all advisors to royalty in Lucian past, it was different when the king was dead. Different and rather sad.

Today would be different than most days for Ignis. It was the birthday of his dear prince, or king now, and best friend. So, with that in mind, he stayed up all night to bake the most delicious cake in Eos history, just as he did every year before hand. It was tradition at this point, something he had been doing since he was a young boy. The past ten, arguably twenty, years had been a much sadder occasion than the first ten to fifteen years, though. At this point, it was just a reminder of two things for Ignis. The first was that not all the spices he needed had braille labels, something he truly despised. After all, the idea that blind people don't need to know what spices are was both disgusting and insulting. And the second was that his friend was gone from this world, and most likely would never come back. And even if he did, in what way would Ignis be useful to him? At 42, all Ignis had to his name was a small apartment, some fancy wines, a crate of canned Ebony, and a birthday cake that would never be eaten. 

Ignis sighed as the depressing thoughts hit him. It was nearly 7AM by the time the cake was finished. The sun, he assumed, had already risen, which meant Gladio would've been up. Perhaps he would give his old friend a call. He'd be sure to call Prompto as well. Noctis would like that.

**Prompto**

The time was 11:59PM and the date was August 30th. Tired and middle aged, Prompto Argentum still stayed up all night in order to be the first one to wish his best friend happy birthday. It was a tradition he started when he was a freshman in high school and had first become friends with the prince. He had made a bet that he would be the first person to send Noct a birthday wish, and boy, was he right. The very second midnight hit, he sent a prewritten text along with a chocobo emoji to his friend. And he had done it ever since, without fail. Of course the replies stopped coming twenty years before. And the phone number had gone out of service the same year Noctis had died… But that was depressing, so he didn't think about it!

He smiled slightly as the clock hit midnight and his finger hurriedly hit the send button. This would probably be the fastest he had ever sent the message, and for that he was proud, and even a bit happy. Of course, the happiness drained out of him when he received a text saying that the number was "no longer available" not even a minute later. Every year for a few seconds, without fail, he felt like he was 15 again and that Noctis was only a few neighborhoods over instead of a lifetime away. 

Every year it got a little bit harder for poor Prompto. Some years he would get by with nothing more than a bit of crying and some laughter when remembering the good times. Other years it's a lot of pain and loneliness. One particular year Iggy had found him with an empty bottle of vodka and a knife. Needless to say that Ignis started visiting him more often after that. This year had to have been the worst, though. It was a few months ago that Prompto had discovered the most damning aspect of being a clone. His body was unstable. His insides would pretty much be mush within a few years, if that. He was damned to die. Of course, the bright side was that he'd get to be with his friend Noctis. It was still tough news to hear, however. And the weight of Noctis' death on his shoulders did not help a bit. So this year, he decided, would be the last time he ever sent a text to Noctis. 

He sighed as he looked down at his phone and deleted Noctis' phone number. "Happy birthday, buddy… I hope… I hope you get what you want this year."

**Noctis**

Turning 40 was, well, strange. Especially since Noctis Lucis Caelum was dead and would always maintain his 30 year old appearance. Even if it was strange, it wasn't bad. His birthday was always filled with strange occurrences. For starters, he received a text from an unknown number that wished him a happy birthday as soon as midnight struck. It was accompanied by a date that caught Noct's eye that didn't seem to be part of the text itself. October 26, the day after Prompto's birthday, along with the current year. It was his wife Lunafreya that suggested that it was, perhaps, an arrival time of some sorts.

The second occurrence was when he received a short thank you note signed by Gladio. "Messages from the living? Huh…" Noctis was a little disappointed to see that it was only one sentence, but grateful nonetheless. Unlike like the previous message though, there was no date at the bottom. 

The third and final gift, as Noctis would call it, was the most delicious cake he had ever tasted. It could only be the work of Ignis. Not a single man in the world could cook as deliciously as his royal advisor. And Noct swore, the cakes got  _ batter  _ every time he tried them. He also cursed himself for making that pun. 

Noctis smiled to himself as he retired to his bed with Lunafreya for the night. "It looks like I got everything I wanted this year."

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all, my Noctis birthday art got liked by Ray Chase!!!
> 
> https://twitter.com/ThnkUFrTheVnum/status/1167566654982635520?s=20


End file.
